Jiang Wange really hated Qi Heng.
They were childhood friends, betrothed to each other, but Qi Heng was devoted to martial arts. He never treated her kindly or kept her company when they were children, and when they grew up, he left for the frontier without a word on the day their engagement was formalized, leaving her to be mocked by her younger half-sister.
By comparison, his fraternal twin brother, Qi Yi, was gentle as water and had cared for her attentively since childhood. When he discovered she sleepwalked, he never looked down on her. Whenever she wandered in her sleep, he would buy her pastries and read her storybooks in the little tower. Over time, their affection grew deep, and they became inseparable. She liked him very much.
Jiang Wange thought that since she was marrying into the Qi family anyway, she might as well marry someone who treated her well.
Jiang Wange was pleased with everything about the fiancé she'd chosen. The only problem was that Qi Yi was always too much of a gentleman during the day. He kept three paces away from her, spoke no more than five sentences at a time, and never let her enter his courtyard.
Jiang Wange was troubled. What should she do if her fiancé was too shy?
With her parents pressing her to marry, Jiang Wange had no choice but to seek out Qi Heng.
"Since we can't stand each other, why don't we break off our engagement? Once it's done, I'll marry your brother. Tell him to be a little more affectionate with me, okay?"
*
Qi Heng was dissatisfied with everything about his fiancée. She was spoiled, domineering, and petty, and she still resented him for leaving the capital on an urgent mission three years ago.
But he knew he was in the wrong, so Qi Heng patiently indulged his childhood friend when she wandered in her sleep at night. He punished the childhood friends who mocked her and learned to make sweet little pastries for her.
After a while, he finally managed to coax his childhood friend into a good mood, and Qi Heng thought with satisfaction.
Sure, she was spoiled and unreasonable, making him set the kitchen on fire while trying to bake pastries and nagging him into dropping his sword to fish in a lake in the dead of winter. But his childhood friend was so beautiful. He was a mighty young general, after all. He couldn't keep holding his wife to account for every little thing.
He prepared the betrothal gifts and counted down the days until their wedding.
But one day, shortly before the wedding, his childhood friend came to his home.
"I'm going to marry your brother. You can spend the rest of your life with your sword."
Qi Heng: !
To find out where things had gone wrong, Qi Heng sneaked into the Prime Minister's residence at night and found the diary his childhood friend had written.
"September 16, sunny. Brother Qi Yi read me a storybook. His voice is so nice.
October 1, sunny. Brother Qi Yi bought me candied hawthorns. He's so gentle.
December 19, heavy rain. Brother Qi Yi jumped into the lake to catch fish for me. How could the sword-brained Qi Heng have such a wonderful brother?"
Qi Heng: .
*
Jiang Wange had done a good job of hiding her sleepwalking. She'd fooled her parents and elder sister, and treated it as a secret between her and Brother Qi Yi.
But on the night before she decided to break off the engagement, the sworn enemy she disliked most dragged her to the little tower.
"I know you sleepwalk."
Jiang Wange: !!
Qi Heng held out pastries he'd made after setting his kitchen on fire three times, and hooked his finger around hers.
"I'm the one who can make pastries, jump in the lake to catch fish, and read you storybooks.
Don't marry my brother. Marry me instead."
Blurb dated 2024.12.08
Many original headcanons. The heroine remembers what happens while sleepwalking.
A spoiled noblewoman and a young general
I couldn't come up with ideas for my original planned story, Shang Huan Luo, so I apologize for changing the premise. Any votes for it will be refunded as red envelopes. Feel free to follow or not~
Theme: Love and healing.
